The north’s upset over the Republic’s stated plans to recommence drilling for natural gas in the seas off the coast of Cyprus in the early part of 2025 is “unfounded”, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Tuesday.

He said the north’s public disquiet over the plans “aim to create tensions” and “undermine international legitimacy”.

“The Republic of Cyprus is continuing to cooperate closely with its international partners, based on our common commitment to regional stability and security, and with respect for international law,” he said.

The north’s ‘foreign ministry’ had said on Saturday that “the Greek Cypriot administration is preparing to escalate tensions in the eastern Mediterranean with these unilateral hydrocarbon exploration activities”.

It added that the Turkish Cypriot people are “the joint owners of the natural resources located on this island and the surrounding seas.

“We strongly condemn these unilateral actions taken by the Greek Cypriot side to violate the Turkish Cypriot people’s legitimate rights. Our state will not remain a spectator to the Greek Cypriot side’s faits accomplis,” it said.

American multinational oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil announced in Novemberits decision to begin drilling for natural gas in block 5 of Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Block 5 contains a potential natural gas reservoir named Electra, with Energy Minister George Papanastasiou having described ExxonMobil’s decision as a “milestone”.

“Depending on the findings … the company will decide how to commercialise this particular deposit, and we hope that the deposit will be something which will open horizons different from the usual ones,” he said.

ExxonMobil vice president for global exploration John Ardill said he had informed President Nikos Christodoulides about plans to drill both in block 5 and in block 10, which contains the Glaucus natural gas deposit.

“We’ve spent the last two years collecting very detailed, three-dimensional seismic data… We’ve identified several large prospects, and the next stage is to bring in a drilling rig and to test those,” he said, adding, “we’ll spud our first well in mid-January, so we are very excited about that.”

He said a drillship was en route from Western Africa to the Eastern Mediterranean. The ship was due to arrive off the coast of Egypt halfway through December, before travelling towards Cyprus a month later.